Atotech wins patent infringement case in China

Plating chemicals specialist Atotech, has won the patent infringement case relating to its Stannatech process. One of Atotech's competitors had filed the case in China despite having lost the same case in Taiwan back in October 2013.

Taiwan Intellectual Property Court had already fully rejected all claims against Atotech. Similarly, the Chinese Patent Office also declared the competitor’s patent appeal invalid and unenforceable.
The patent infringement lawsuit was filed at two courts, in Suzhou and Shanghai. However, the competitor withdrew all legal actions. This led to immediate termination of proceedings in both the courts. Shortly thereafter, in October 2014, the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) of China held that the company’s patent was invalid because of a lack of inventive steps. Thereby, prohibiting the competitor from enforcing any action against Atotech or its customers based on this particular patent.
Commenting on the development, Atotech's Patent and Trademark Manager, Joerg Wonnemann said: "During the proceedings, we were confident of our strong non-infringement position, which has now been confirmed. As the industry leader for immersion tin process, we take all matters relating to intellectual property very seriously - both in respect to our responsibilities as well as our rights."